Saturday, January 10, 2015

ABRAHAM: God's Comforting Promise

GOD’S COMFORTING PROMISE

“14 And
the Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him: ‘Lift your eyes
now and look from the place where you are—northward, southward, eastward, and
westward; 15 for all the land which you see I give to you and
your descendants forever. 16 And I will make your descendants
as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then
your descendants also could be numbered. 17 Arise, walk in the
land through its length and its width, for I give it to you.’ 18 Then
Abram moved his tent, and went and dwelt by the terebinth trees of
Mamre,which are in Hebron, and built an altar there to the Lord.” Genesis 13:14-18.

Introduction

“Wee, sleekit, cow’rin’, tim’rous beastie,

O what a panic’s in thy breastie!”

The Scottish poet Robert
Burns wrote those words in 1785 after he had upturned a mouse and her nest
while he was ploughing a field. He could see that the timid little mouse was in
a troubled state! In the poem Burns then begins to look at things from the
mouse’s point of view. And he runs a comparison between himself and the wee
mouse. He ends his poem to the mouse by saying,

“Still thou art
blest compar’d wi’ me!

The present only
toucheth thee;

But oh! I
backward cast my e’e

On prospects
drear!

An’ forward tho’
I canna see,

I guess an’ fear!”

In the following I would
like us as Christians to know that we don’t have to panic like a little mouse. Neither
do we have to “guess an’ fear” about our future – or even the future of
the planet earth! Why? Because our sovereign God is in control of all things. Just
as He was in control of the plow with which Robert Burns upturned the little
mouse’s house!

The general gist of the
following is summed up in these words: The LORD comforts the compliant by confirming His Word to them.

Compliance

Genesis chapter 13 began by
telling us Abram, after his escapade down in Egypt, is back on track. Chapter
13 ends by informing us that Abram is still on track. Genesis 13:18,“Then Abram moved
his tent [etc.] and built an altar there to the LORD.” So it’s not without
reason that Abram is called the father of the faithful. However, as we’ve
already seen, and will no doubt see in the future, Abram is anything but
perfect. For like the rest of us, Abram struggled at times to do the right
thing by God. But here in this chapter we see that Abram is compliant to the
will of the LORD. For, if you remember, Abram was told to get out of his
country (Genesis 12:1).

This meant that he was to
get out from his kindred – even from his father’s house. And you know Abram’s
father Terah and his nephew Lot left Ur of the Chaldeans and came with him. But
Abram’s father died back in a place called Haran. And we’ve already looked at
the amicable separation between Abram and his nephew Lot. But for now I want
you to notice something that is all too often overlooked today.

The thing too often overlooked is the sovereignty
of God in world events. Be it a sparrow
dropping from a tree or a hair from your head or bombs from a plane. Or be it
the upturning of a mouse’s house with your plough-blade. Be it anything that
comes to pass, all things comply with the secret or hidden will of God. That
is, whatever things come to pass – come to pass because they have been ordained
by God. And this of course is not to say men are not held accountable to God
for their actions good or bad. But it is to say that God is still in control!

At no point has He lost
control, either in the past, present or future. So this means that when the
Christian puts his head on his pillow at night he can sleep! He can sleep because
his heavenly Father is watching over him and every atom of the universe.

God is busy even as you sleep
working His purposes out. We’re not always privy to how He does this. Therefore,
this we’ll call the “secret” will of God. For instance, none of us knows the
moment we’re going to die! Neither does anyone know when the Lord is going to
return bodily. God has a secret or hidden will – His decretive will. It is
secret or hidden from our view (cf. Deuteronomy 29:29). But the Christian
should be comforted knowing that God is in control – control of all things. There’s
great comfort expressed in the words of the old hymn,“Whate’er my God ordains is right: His holy
will abideth.”

But there is an even greater
comfort to be had by being obedient to God. When you know what God would have
you do and you do it, that is comfort to your soul. Take Abram and Lot for
instance. Both were compliant to the secret or hidden will of God. However,
only one of them was conscious he was doing the will of God and that one was
Abram. Abram let his nephew Lot choose where he wanted to live. If Lot went to
the right Abram would go to the left and vice-versa. Lot chose to go and dwell
in the cities of the plain of Jordan – even as far as Sodom!

Now then, it has to be
admitted that both Abram and Lot were compliant to the secret will of God. As
we are reminded of the Proverb, “The
lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD” 16:33.
But here’s the difference between Abram and Lot in this instance. Both were
compliant to the secret will of God. But only Abram was compliant to God’s revealed
will. Abram separated himself from Lot because of what God had already told him
to do. Therefore he was being obedient to the revealed will of God. However,
Lot saw the whole thing as his opportunity to move from tent-life to city-life.
But I want you to see that, though Lot wasn’t focused on the things of God, he
was still complying with the will of God, albeit the secret will of God!

God had told Abram to get
out from his kindred. The LORD had revealed this to Abram in Ur of the
Chaldeans, this is the revealed will of God then. But Lot, as you know, was the
last of Abram’s kindred. So when Abram asked Lot to choose where he wanted to
go Abram was complying to the REVEALED will of God, wasn’t he?

Both Abram and Lot got
themselves entangled in all that nonsense when they went down to Egypt. Abram
learned his lesson to “Come out from
among them and be separate” 2 Corinthians 6:17. But Lot? Well, he can’t
wait to get back in among it all again. So he dashes off to dwell in the cities
of the plain. And when he got there? Well he’s like those today who seem to
have no confidence in the sovereign power of God in all things. To put it
bluntly, they’re too busy looking at the things of the world and not the things
of God! Therefore, like Lot in Sodom, their hearts become troubled when they
see evil around them! They forget the words of the Shepherd Psalm, “You prepare a table before me in the
presence of my enemies.” They forget that Jesus says, “In the world you will have tribulation, but
be of good cheer, I have overcome the world” John 16:33b. They forget
that Jesus says, “All authority has
been given to Me in heaven and on earth” All authority over what? Over
everything. Even every atom of the universe. Even you and me and the Devil!Therefore
since Christ has overcome the world and has all authority in heaven and on
earth, Christians should find comfort in this knowledge.

But instead we see Christian
book-stores flooded with scary End-times books! However, the Lord hasn’t
revealed the date of His return. It’s part of His secret will. You’ll know all
about it after He returns like a thief in the night. So why all the scary
books? The thing I find scary about these kinds of books is that some of them
are written by Christians who claim that God has revealed His secret will in
Scripture! They’ve been promoting the any-second-rapture of the church for over
one hundred years. So this means that they have been wrong for
over the last one hundred years!

How long will it take for
them to realize that what Jesus says is true, that no one knows the day or the
hour of His return! And with regard to the supposed rapture of the church Jesus
prayed these words in John 17:15, “I do not pray that You should take them
out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.” Does this sound like the
entire believing church of Jesus Christ is suddenly going to leave the planet
earth to the unbelievers? Anyway, as Abram
and Lot were compliant to the sovereign secret will of God, so are all other
things. Therefore there is great assurance to be had for the Christian in the
knowledge that God has control of all things “Whate’er my God ordains is
right: His holy will abideth!” But more than that, there is even
greater comfort in knowing that you are doing the will of God.

Just before John Calvin
died, his friends, noticing he was really sick, tried to get him to lie down in
his bed. “What?” replied Calvin, “And have the Lord come for me and catch me
idle!” Calvin knew the comfort that comes from consciously complying to the
will of God! He was a doer of the Word.

Now, to be sure there’re
many mysteries in the world, e.g., the date of Christ’s return, the suffering
of the seeming innocent etc. But these and like mysteries are mysteries because
God has a secret or hidden will. However, He also has a revealed will which is
for our comfort. Look at Deuteronomy 29:29, “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are
revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words
of this law.”

So the general idea then, is
that we leave all the mysteries with God. What is a mystery to us makes sense
to God so we leave its secret with Him. But those things He has revealed to us
in His Word we consciously seek to do! In the words of the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy
will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

That should be the constant
prayer of the Christian. He ought to pray that the Lord’s will be done on earth
– beginning with himself. Therefore every Christian should search the
Scriptures to find out what is God’s revealed will – and then go and do it! And
if this be the attitude of the Christian he will find great comfort in the Word
of God. Because obedience or conscious compliance to the revealed will of God
brings comfort.

Comfort

First we need to define what we mean by the word
“comfort.” Most of us, I’m sure, think of “comfort” as soft
cushions and soft pillows! Most of us think that to “comfort” someone is to
give them a soft shoulder to cry on. And no doubt the word “comfort” can be
used in this way. But in the following we’re using the word “comfort” the way
the Bible uses it, i.e., where comfort means to strengthen, or literally to fort-ify
with or fortify together. E.g., the Comforter, the Holy Spirit is the One who
strengthens us. He gets alongside us and strengthen us, as in the Lord’s Supper
for example. Well, look what’s happening in our text.

Abram is being compliant to the Word of God which
has already been revealed to him.“And the LORD said to Abram...” (Genesis
13:14). God spoke to Abram. So the LORD got alongside Abram and
strengthened him with words of comfort. However notice that the LORD did this
AFTER Abram had complied to what he’d been told to do. So Abram was a doer of
the Word of God and God continued to strengthen him.

And what exactly has Abram
done? Well, he’s separated himself from Lot – his last kin. Abram now has no
blood relatives left with him, no next-of-kin, unless, of course you include
Sarai Technically Sarai was Abram’s half-sister, as well as his wife, and she also
was barren (Genesis 11:30). But did the LORD tell Abram to divorce his half-sister
who was his wife? No! This speaks volumes against those who believe in ongoing
revelation, and claim God told them to leave their wife and become a missionary
or whatever.

First off God has given us
all His revealed will in the form of the Bible. And secondly, though God
permits divorce because of the hardness of men’s hearts, He hates it. And what
better example than Abram and Sarai? The LORD has told Abram to separate from
his kindred. Isn’t Sarai Abram’s kindred and his wife? However, there’s no
mention of the LORD telling Abram to dump his wife. In fact don’t we hear
echoes loud and clear here of what our Lord says in Matthew 19:4ff.? “Have you not read that He who made them at
the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘For this reason a man shall
leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become
one flesh?’ So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God
has joined together, let not man separate” Matthew 19:4-6. And didn’t
the Lord give Adam a wife in order to help him, even comfort, i.e., strengthen
him? So wives, get alongside your husbands and strengthen them!

Look at this short excerpt
from Malachi 2:14-16 which spells out the main purpose of marriage, “The LORD has been witness between you and
the wife of your youth...she is your companion and your wife by covenant...Did
He not make them one...and why one? HE SEEKS GODLY OFFSPRING. Therefore take
heed to your spirit, and let none deal treacherously with the wife of his
youth. For the LORD God of Israel says that He hates divorce.” Malachi
2:14-16.

So, if we put it all
together, the LORD wants a man to find a woman, make an unbreakable covenant
with her, leaving his father and mother to raise godly offspring. Therefore God
will comfort, strengthen those who are striving to be obedient to Him in
marriage. Is this not what’s taking place as we see the LORD invisibly
superintend the life of Abram?

Is it not a great comfort then, to know that God
always complies with His own revealed will? God is telling Abram He’ll bless his marriage with as much offspring as
dust on the earth (Genesis 13:16). God is reminding him of the promise already
made that He’d make him into a great nation. By this, of course, is meant the
church as Paul says in Galatians 3:7, “Therefore
know that only those who are faith are sons of Abraham.” And some other
time we’ll look more closely at this along with the fact that Christ is the
ultimate Promised Seed of Abram (Galatians 3:16). But for now we are
strengthened in the knowledge that God never acts contrary to His own revealed
will. However, look what else is happening in our text: Abram did what the Lord
had told him to do. He has now separated himself from his nephew Lot. This must
have broken Abram’s heart. Abram loved his nephew Lot! But Abram complied with
the revealed will of God. He obeyed the LORD. However, is the LORD oblivious to
what Abram must be going through at this time? No, the LORD came and comforted
him with words of encouragement.

So then, we need to ask:
What are the words the LORD uses to encourage Abram? Well, all the LORD is
doing here is reassuring Abram with what He has already said. In other words,
the LORD is coming to Abram and confirming what He has already revealed to him.
Thus, the
LORD comforts the compliant by confirming His Promise to them.

Confirmation

Think back to what the LORD
has already said to Abram as recorded in Genesis 12:1, “Now the LORD had said to Abram: ‘Get out of your country, from your
kindred and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you. I will
make you a great nation [etc.]” Now look at what the Lord is saying to
Abram in Genesis 13:14ff., “Lift your
eyes now and look... for all the land which you see I give to you and your
descendants forever. And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth...[etc.]”

Abram has complied with what
God has already revealed to him. And now the Lord is comforting him by
promising that he will be faithful to His own Word. The Lord does the same thing
with us in the Lord’s Supper. He brings us comfort by confirming in the Supper
that He will be faithful to His own Word. That’s the way it works!

In the Lord’s Supper the
Communicant sees that he or she has a place in the will of God – if he or she
has been striving to conform to and do the revealed will of God. If you or I do
the right thing by God we get to sleep at night. As Christians we should put
our heads on our pillows at night and think about whether what we’re doing in
life lines up with God’s revealed will, i.e., the Bible. The comfort comes with
the confirmation that you are being compliant to the revealed will of God. But
if the Christian discovers he’s done or is doing something in life contrary to
the clear teaching of Scripture, then he is a troubled spirit. For example look
at Abram’s nephew Lot – and what Christian among us cannot relate to this man? We
all tend to look at things through the eyes of Lot. He saw the well-watered
plain of Jordan. Where Abram is content dwelling in a tent in the hills, Lot
wants to go live in the cities of the plain.

Now, you’re going to see in
a moment that it was God’s secret will that Lot go there. However, Lot, it
would seem, went there for his own selfish reasons. Abram has learned his
lesson from the time he went down into Egypt. But Lot, it would seem, is still
attracted to the neon lights, the glitter and life-style of the city. It’s easy
for us to look at things through the eyes of Lot. Lot followed the desire of
his heart. But he wasn’t mindful of the things of God. So he became a troubled
spirit. And the LORD would eventually have to send in two of His angels to
deliver Lot from Sodom! However, looking through God’s eyes it’s not hard to
see God’s grace in sending Lot into Sodom Because like Noah before him, Jonah
after him, Lot was a preacher of righteousness.

The Bible calls Lot a
“righteous” man (2 Peter 2:7-8). So Lot was a Christian. He was a member of the
Christian Church as the Church existed at the time of Abram. And is there
anyone who would enjoy living in, say, San Francisco or King’s Cross Sydney
witnessing to people involving themselves in the practice of sodomy? Well, that
was the mission field Abram’s nephew Lot was sent into by the sovereign God!
No! It wasn’t Lot’s intention to go to Sodom as a missionary, but, can you see
that it was the secret will of our gracious God that Lot should go there? Lot
had one thing in mind but the LORD had another.

So, whatever it is that
you’re planning to do, seek confirmation in the Word of God that it’s okay. Otherwise
it might just blow up in your face as it did with Lot! Robert Burns expresses
this same idea in the same poem I referred to earlier. You’ve probably heard
the words:

The best laid
schemes o’ mice an’ men

Gang aft a-gley,

An’ lea’e us
nought but grief an’ pain

For promised
joy.

By the way, there are
Christians who take great joy in this type of work. But I’m sure you can see
the difference between these Christians today and Lot. Lot tended toward
self-service whereas Christians living among practicers of sodomy are serving
the LORD. And there’s the joy, the joy in doing the revealed will of God as
confirmed by His Word. When these Christians put their heads on their pillows
at night they can sleep. They know that they are there serving the LORD
according to His revealed will. Both Lot & Abram, no doubt, knew beforehand
that the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the LORD
(Genesis 13:13). No wonder the Apostle Peter says of Lot, “that righteous man, dwelling among them,
tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their
lawless deeds.”2 Peter 2:8.

So we see then, that Lot in
Sodom was compliant to the hidden or secret will of God. Seen through the eyes
of God, Lot went exactly where the LORD wanted him to go. But Lot didn’t enjoy
one bit being the conscience of Sodom! He had a troubled spirit because he was
not consciously complying to the revealed will of God. And neither was anyone
else around him. In other words, if Lot had gone to Sodom with the intention of
winning the Sodomites over to the God of Abram he would have spared himself the
torment of soul! So, to cut the long story short, Lot was a Christian troubled
because he was too busy looking at his evil and wicked surroundings and not the
kingdom of God like Abram!

So, as we begin to tie it all together, it’s not hard to see that we’re touching on a common
problem in the church at large today. Instead of getting on with what we’re
supposed to, (i.e., witnessing to the LORD in an evil and wicked time) many are
too busy looking at their surroundings. To look at the amount of End-Time books
that are flooding the Christian book-stores you’d think the devil was sovereign
ruler of the world. We know that the devil, as Peter says, “Walks about like a roaring lion, seeking
whom he may devour” 1 Peter 5:8. However, James says, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” James 4:7-8.

Conclusion

Abram was busy consciously
complying to what God told him to do. And the word of the Lord came to him
reinforcing what He had already promised him. So Abram was happy to move his
tent and build another altar and continue worshipping God. He trusted that God
had everything under control and would come good with His promises. But Lot? He
still had a lot to learn about the revealed will of God never mind His secret
will!

So how is it with you? Are
you a “Wee, sleekit, cow’rin’, tim’rous beastie, O what a panic’s in thy
breastie!” Or are you confident that God has everything under His sovereign
control? Are you overly worried about the things around you or are you busy
doing something about it, such as everything revealed in Scripture? Are you
obedient to the revealed will of God at home, at work, at school, at play? Are
you seeking to be obedient to God in your marriage, if you are married?Are you striving to bring up a godly
offspring?

Always remember that the
LORD comforts the compliant by confirming His Promise to them.